The art of escape: how “circus performers” crossed the border and disappeared
7 July 2025 16:57
At least 78 men of military age have left the territory of Ukraine using a scheme of fictitious employment in the National Circus Company. This was reported by MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
According to the MP, the scheme consisted of registering men as “circus performers,” after which they quickly received permission to leave from the Ministry of Culture. Within a month, the newly minted “artists” would go on a so-called “tour” abroad and never return.
“People were registered as artists, and within a month they were on a foreign tour. 78 men left and never returned. At the same time, some of them were receiving salaries from the budget for a long time,” Zheleznyak noted.
The MP also said that similar cases are recorded in philharmonic societies and other state cultural institutions.
The situation has now drawn attention to abuses in the cultural sector, which are used as a loophole to avoid mobilization.
